Ebola Concerns Prompt Malloy To Declare Public Health Emergency

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued an executive order Tuesday that gives the state’s public health commissioner broad power to quarantine anyone exposed to or infected with the Ebola virus.

No Ebola cases have been publicly identified in Connecticut but Malloy’s order declares a public health emergency in the state. He said it is a preventative step that could help prevent an outbreak.

“We are taking this action… to ensure that we are prepared, in advance, to deal with any identified cases in which someone has been exposed to the virus or, worst case, infected,’’ the governor said in a statement. “It is essential to be prepared and we need to have the authorities in place that will allow us to move quickly to protect public health, if, and when, that becomes necessary.”

Governors around the nation have been in frequent contact with public health experts and emergency management officials since last week, when a man in Dallas became the first person to be diagnosed with the deadly disease in the U.S.

Since then, Texas health officials have isolated four people who had contact with the man, under a Texas law that gives that state the authority to order a quarantine to prevent the spread of a serious and contagious disease.

Malloy, who generally gets high marks for his crisis management skills in public opinion polls, said Connecticut would have no ability to isolate or quarantine people exposed to the disease without the order; otherwise that authority rests with local public health directors.

The order gives Commissioner Jewel Mullen the power to issue a quarantine order. ““While local health officials are certainly on the front lines of this effort, at the ready to address any situation, having this order in place will allow us to have a more coordinated response in the event that someone in Connecticut either tests positive for Ebola or has been identified as someone who is at risk of developing it,” Mullen said in a statement. “We have had numerous conversations with both local public health officials in the state and senior officials at the Center for Disease Control. We have no reason to believe that anyone in Connecticut is infected or at risk of infection, but if it does happen, we want to be ready.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley said during an interview with WABC Radio New York on Tuesday that he would not have declared a state of emergency, according to Mary Elizabeth Elkordy, a producer for the radio show, The Ride Home with Pat Kiernan and Rita Cosby. Larry Mendte, a radio host, asked Foley if he would have declared an emergency, and Foley said “no,” according to a transcript of the show. “Why? Mendte asked. “Well, there’s no cases,” Foley responded. “So there’s no evidence that Ebola is a problem in Connecticut. All it would do is alarm the citizens when there is no cause for alarm.”

Concern about Ebola has been growing as the death toll from the disease continues its devastating rise in West Africa, where it has killed more than 3,400 people.

Jeanne Leblanc, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, said government has a responsibility to protect citizens from contagious and often lethal viruses.

“We recognize the need to protect the public from dangerous diseases, and we trust the state would act responsibly if it became necessary to quarantine people,’’ Leblanc said. “There are provisions in the state’s public health emergency law that give patients the right to redress in court if they believe they have been quarantined unreasonably, and those protections are very important, as well.”